Good morning from Baltimore, where I’ll be sharing all your great advocacy efforts, and how they have helped our community colleges in California, at the American Association of Community College’s Future Leaders Institute. While at times it is difficult to measure our successes, we have had a lot of practice, and trust me, things could be a lot worse (and are in most states and among our UC and CSU brethren).
Nevertheless, now is not the time to rest on our laurels. The next five days could mean $2.5 billion over the next five years for community colleges, and deep, devastating cuts to the University of California and California State University systems that large numbers of our current students are counting on to complete their studies. We have one last shot at a balanced budget approach, or we’re likely going to see a mostly cuts budget.
I know you have wrote letters, made phone calls, and even visited your legislators’ offices. However, as typically happens down the budgetary stretch, things have gotten awfully quiet in the Capitol. But, with the suspension of pay to legislators, this year is like none other before, and we fully expect a budget, some budget, by the end of the week.
Will you join me and our counterparts in higher education in making one more advocacy push for a balanced approach?
We’ve made it easy, and you can make a huge difference by giving us 15 minutes of your time. If you can’t do it from work, how about using the commercials time during The Bachelorette tonight? It’s a two-hour show, so that’s LOTS of commercial time!
Again, thank you for your advocacy. While it has been fantastic during this six-month budget campaign and has likely taken the worst cuts off the table this year, significant threats remain and are almost certain to be resolved this week.
